Keyboard and staff reader



y 1, 1930. D. MILLER {768,706

KEY BOARD AND STAFF READER Filed Aug. 7, 1926 INVENTOR.

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Patented July 1, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-ice DOROTHY MILLER, 01! KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI KEYBOARD AND STAFF READER Application filed August 7, 1926. Serial No. 127,933.

This invention relates to a keyboard and with the staff lines 7 dividing that portion staff reader for primar piano students and into staff spaces 8. has forits principal ject to facilitate in- Extending through the staff lines and struction by graphic illustration ofthe relaspaces into the corresponding white keys in I tionship between the piano keyboard and the keyboard are slots 9, having branches 10 the musical staff. leading transversely into the black keys and In accomplishing this object I provide a by means of which sharps and flats may be board or the like, bearing the representation indicated, as presently described. of a piano keyboard and of a musical staff, in Slidably mounted on the board at each key 10 such relation that markers indicative of the line and space are buttons 11, bearing key names of the staff lines and spaces may be names corresponding to their particular '10- movedfrom the staff to the keyboard and cations, the buttons being slidably anchored back to illustrate the relationship between by shanks 12 which move snugly in the slots relative portions ofthe staff and keyboard. 9 and have bosses 13 at their under-ends for 15 In the drawings forming part of this apretaining the buttons to the board. There is plication I have illustrated a preferred form a button for each of the stafllines and spaces,

of board and its marking. each of the buttons bearing the correspond- Figure 1 being a perspective view of a pre- 111g lndlcla 0f the key names. ferred construction of the board and assem- I also preferably provide the board with 2.0 bly of th k b d d t rt buttons 14: having pins 15 for fitting in sock- Figure 2 is a, transverse section of the ets '16 at the left Of the staff, the bIlttOIlS beb ard th h one f th rk groups mg marked to indicate sharps or flats and Figure 3 is a detail perspective View of a y designate the y Signaturebutton employed in connection with the In g r 1 I have shown a button 14 on 25 b d t i di t a k i t the B staff line for both the treble and bass R f i more i d tail t th drawi clefs, as the signatures in both must be the 1 designates the board as a whole and which fa jlt 1t 18 apparent that a button bearing 7 may be composed of any suitable material, the indication for a shar may be substituted tiff enough to retain its shape under repeated When the other signature is desired and that fie-handling and to carry the transverse slots the buttons ay beshlfted i y of the h h i ft mentioned. Extending along or space sockets, as the particular occasion one of the longitudinal edges of the board is y m the representation of a piano keyboard, the Assumlhg the P be Constructed f transverse lines 2 dividing this portion into assembled as de.scnbed Wlth a key button spaces representative of white keys 3 and ably mounted lnfiach 0f he key slots, the

t} f b 1 operation is as follows: 5 2- 3 g fggegg tlig bla c k lqgz 4: m so K In teaching it s first desirable that the tudent learn the names of the ke s on the Back of the keyboard portion the board 1s i b d y lished with m lined to indicate the musical staff the ri ht ey 0hr 18 1S aqcomp y 4.0

hand end of the board bearing the treble lef Invention by first movmg an of the buttons onto the staff ortion of the board and drill- Slgh 5 and the lower P the bass clef slgn ing the studeri t merely in the names of the 6, the signs being arranged parallel with the keyboard so that when the student is workaig s gg z fi f g. ini iffs: mg the'keyboard, holds the board then he is taught to associatethe names witli lengthwise n front of him but when he 1s th corresponding k i th k b d,

Working with the staff, he turns the board Thi a b d by requiri g hi to ov upright or at right angles to its former poone of the name buttons from the staff to sition. the keyboard. As an illustration, he is re- 50 The staff portion of the board is marked quired to find the location of the keys named E. To do this he first locates the key buttons and then slides them along the board from the staff onto the keyboard; this being done with all the E buttons in the set. lVhen the key buttons have been moved onto the keyboard, the student observes that all of them are located on the white keys to the right of groups of two black keys and thereafter he remembers that each key to the right of a group of two black keys is an E key.

He may next be required to locate the 0 keys. Movement of the 0 buttons onto the keyboard shows him that the C keys are to the left of a group of two black keys. Likewise the D buttons when moved from the staff to the keyboard show him that the D keys are the white keys between the members of the groups of two black keys.

Drilling of the student in this manner may be continued until he is thoroughly familiar with the location of the various keys.

After the student has familiarized himself with the keyboard in this manner, he is then taught the letter names of the staff lines and spaces. In teaching the latter the buttons are all moved onto the keyboard. Manipulation of the device while learning the keyboard has taught the student that there are three C keys and he is instructed that the middle C (indicated on the board by M C) is the dividing line between the treble and bass clefs. Movement of the middle key button from the keyboard to the staff shows him the dividing line between tl e treble and bass staffs and movement of the other C key buttons shows him that the C key button to the right of middle C, when moved to the staff, is located in the third treble space and indicates the letter name for that space. He also learns that the C key button to the left of middle C when moved to the staff is located in the second space of the bass staif. This further impresses upon the student that the staff above the middle 0 line is treble and that below the middle C line is bass and that the part of the keyboard to the right of middle C is treble and that to the left of middle C is bass.

As a continuation of the foregoing process of instruction, the buttons l i may be employed to indicate to the studentthat notes indicated by position of that key button are to be sharped or iiatted. For illustration, if 'tlat buttons are located on a 13 degree, then the student knows that all of the B notes are to be ilatted and the B buttons thereafter employed in the lesson are to be moved into the branches 10 of the slots and over the black keys instead of the the ends of the slots over the white keys. Should the sharp buttons 1% be employed, then the notes are to be sharped and thus indicated by moving the buttons over the first keys to the right of the line or space on which the button for the key to be sharped is located.

In the above statement of operation, I have not attempted to go into full detail as to instruction with the board as any skillful music teacher will be able to employ it in a practical way, and while I have referred to the board merely as a keyboard and staff reader for instruction in key names, the device is also useful in teaching scale construction and chord building and reading.

It is further apparent that the indicia carried by the buttons need not be those specifically illustrated, as representations of the notes themselves may be substituted for the letters, and that other changes and ariations may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim A keyboard and staff reader comprising a board or the like bearing representations of a piano keyboard and a musical stafi' arranged at a right angle to each other, the board having slots running along the lines and spaces of the staff into corresponding keys of the keyboard, and markers comprising shanks movably anchored in the slots and having buttons bearing stafl line and space names.

In witness whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

DOROTHY MILLER. 

